The Buddha was known as The Happy One. Though Joy is one of the Seven Factors of Awakening, with so much emphasis on working with suffering, joy can sometimes seem frivolous or unspiritual. His teaching on attending to the ‘Gladness Connected with the Wholesome’ is a key aspect of Wise Effort and developing a loving heart. We will practice and explore together this foundation for awakening joy.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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Awakening to the New Year: creating conscious intentions
Recorded :
January 7, 2018 When we move on behalf of the recognition of our true nature, a conscious intention becomes a way to align all aspects of our lives with our deepest understanding and recognition of truth. A conscious intention is seeped in possibility. While it may even look similar on some level, on the surface, to a conditioned…
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You are Not Alone: Healing the Myth of Separation
Recorded :
March 17, 2019 The dharma invites us to face ourselves fully. But through fear, we sometimes distract ourselves, over-fill ourselves, and hold onto external attachments, in order to avoid.…what? The illusion that we are separate and isolated manifests in ways conscious and unconscious, but over time practice reveals to us that it is simply the ego that fears…
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Breath as the Subtle Energetic Bridge between Body, Heart/Mind: Re-wire, Re-connect and Renew
Recorded :
September 7, 2025 If we change our view of breath, imagining and feeling it as a soft breeze, gentle wind or carrier of Citta (heart/mind) we open to the capacity to guide it anywhere we like to in the body. Imagining breath anywhere, we sense its effects: relaxing contraction around physical pain making it more bearable, softening the…
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The Two Fundamental Roots
Recorded :
January 25, 2026 I reflect this Sunday on the profound Surangama Sutra teaching of the Two Fundamental Roots: The root of “beginningless birth and death,” and the “primal bright essence of consciousness.” The Buddha warns that not knowing these two essential principles renders one’s spiritual efforts into a doomed futility, like “cooking sand in the hope of creating…
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Speaking Out Against Injustice with Deep Listening and Loving Speech
Recorded :
June 3, 2018 How can we stand up for the values of social justice, inclusion, respect and dignity for all in a way that helps to heal division? How can we reach out to those who are different from us to help bridge the divide? In this session we explore the power of loving speech and deep listening,…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of February 7, 2022
This week’s theme is: Finding Happiness and Wellbeing on the Path
The understanding of how dukkha is conditioned and constructed lies at the heart of Dharma teachings. Dukkha and wellbeing are in relationship with each other; the abandonment of the causes of dukkha leads to wellbeing. The nourishment of the causes for wellbeing decreases dukkha. During this week we will explore our capacity to uncover and develop wellbeing through our practice, in ways that enrich our lives.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of 17 March, 2025
We are delighted to have Nirmala Werner guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. This week’s theme is: Sacred Body, Sacred Path: Feminine Principles on the Spiritual Journey. This week, we explore the profound role of the feminine principle on the spiritual journey in Buddhism. We will engage in embodied practices, examining the qualities of the elements and nature, while opening ourselves to what truly serves us on our path to awakening. Where does our practice lead us when we open to an embrace of life, seeing all experience as sacred?
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Relational Dharma
Recorded :
October 23, 2022 What does the Dharma have to say about how we relate: to ourselves, to each other and to the environment? How might we touch in to the energizing potential of waking up together? This session will draw from the inherently relational practices of both the Zen koan tradition and Insight Dialogue to consider ways that…
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